Lawrence Nathanial "Honey" Brooks (September 12, 1909 – January 5, 2022) was the oldest living man in the United States and the oldest known living American

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

veteran.

Early life

Brooks was born on September 12, 1909, to Edward Brooks and Julia Bailey Brooks. He grew up in

Norwood, Louisiana Norwood is a village in East Feliciana Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 322 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Statistical Area. Geography Norwood is located in northwestern East Feliciana Parish ...

, and had 14 siblings. When he was an infant, the family moved to several cities closer to the Mississippi Delta, but he was raised primarily in the small town of Stephenson. He lived too far away from a school to attend one, so he was instead taught at home.

Military service

Brooks was drafted into the army in 1940, when he was 31. At the time, he was employed at a

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes (dimensi ...

. He was discharged in 1941, after a year of mandatory service, but he rejoined the army after the

attack on Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii ...

. He served in the 91st Engineer Battalion in the United States Army in

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; id, Papua, or , historically ) is the world's second-largest island with an area of . Located in Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the wide Torr ...

and the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

during World War II. Brooks was a soldier in the Pacific Theatre from 1941 to 1945. He reached the rank of private first class. Brooks's unit, an engineering corps, was tasked mainly with building infrastructure. However, the army was segregated during his service, and he was responsible for assisting white officers with daily tasks. During a posting in Australia, Brooks noted that he was treated better by the white people there than in the United States in the decades prior to the

civil rights movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the Unite ...

Later life

After his military service, Brooks worked as a forklift operator in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

until his retirement, and he had five children. His wife, Leona, died shortly after Hurricane Katrina. In the mid-2010s,

The National WWII Museum The National WWII Museum, formerly known as The National D-Day Museum, is a military history museum located in the Central Business District of New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S., on Andrew Higgins Drive between Camp Street and Magazine Street. The ...

began to host an annual birthday party for Brooks. In 2020, this celebration included a flyover of World War II aircraft above Brooks's house, with the museum's "Victory Belles", a trio of singers performing songs predominantly from the 1940s era. The city of New Orleans also recognized Brooks's birthday with an official proclamation.

Death

Brooks died on January 5, 2022, in his New Orleans home, aged 112 years and 115 days. His daughter, Vanessa Brooks, confirmed his death to magazine ''

Military Times Sightline Media Group, formerly Gannett Government Media and Army Times Publishing Company, is a United States company that publishes newspapers, magazines, websites, and other publications about the U.S. and other militaries. The company's '' ...

'' hours later. She said that he had been back and forth to the New Orleans VA Hospital in recent months. After his death, actor

Gary Sinise Gary Alan Sinise (; born March 17, 1955) is an American actor, humanitarian, and musician. Among other awards, he has won a Primetime Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Tony Award, and four Screen Actors Guild Awards. He has also received a sta ...

posted a tribute on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

. Louisiana governor

John Bel Edwards John Bel Edwards (born September 16, 1966) is an American politician and attorney serving as the 56th governor of Louisiana since 2016. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the Democratic leader of the Louisiana House of ...

also posted, saying: "I am sorry to hear of the passing of Mr. Lawrence Brooks, America’s oldest World War II veteran and a proud Louisianan". President Joe Biden referred to Brooks as "truly the best of America".

References

External links

* (video, 0:55 seconds) {{DEFAULTSORT:Brooks, Lawrence 1909 births 2022 deaths African Americans in World War II American supercentenarians African-American centenarians American centenarians Men supercentenarians United States Army personnel of World War II United States Army soldiers 21st-century African-American people People from East Feliciana Parish, Louisiana Military personnel from Louisiana African-American United States Army personnel